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Blood from young animals can revitalise old ones

economist.com

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Re: Blood from young animals can revitalise old ones

#121

Post by banderman »

etatoby wrote: post #54

I think older civilizations may have discovered something like this and put it into practice, giving rise to the myth of Vampires. The Vampires of lore are described as very old people who suck the blood of youngsters to stay alive. The parts about them fearing sunlight, or garlic, or whatever, might just be based on side-effects of this cure for ageing. The inaccuracy of "sucking" instead of transfusion, might be be…

I thought that vampires were an allegory for people with an economic or social advantage extracting rent and interest from the younger or more ignorant.

Re: Blood from young animals can revitalise old ones

#122

Post by [deleted] »

jbmorgado wrote: post #117
etatoby wrote: post #54

I think older civilizations may have discovered something like this and put it into practice, giving rise to the myth of Vampires. The Vampires of lore are described as very old people who suck the blood of youngsters to stay alive. The parts about them fearing sunlight, or garlic, or whatever, might just be based on side-effects of this cure for ageing. The inaccuracy of "sucking" instead of transfusion, might be be…

Hum, no. If you you drink someone's blood it goes trough your digestive system and it's processed that way, it doesn't become your blood, just provides you some nutrients. Besides you do that almost everyday, i.e. eat animals younger than you and in certain cuisines part of their blood. This here is something very different, allowing the blood to be used as is from an young individual in an older one.

[deleted]

Re: Blood from young animals can revitalise old ones

#123

Post by pmoriarty »

ptha wrote: post #111
posterboy wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recently read that ancient mongoles would drink their horses blood in dire need.

The Maasai people in Africa have and still drink cow's blood as part of their diet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maasai_people#Diet

There's also blood sausage[1], varieties of which are consumed all over the world.

[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_sausage

Re: Blood from young animals can revitalise old ones

#124

Post by pmoriarty »

rothron wrote: post #73
jraby3 wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why kidnap? Why not just offer $20 per pint and sell it for $200?

Blood banks stopped paying for blood because it attracted the wrong customers, those strapped for cash rather than the idealistic types. As a result quality suffered. Between hospitals blood is bought and sold at the price you mention. Radiolab had an episode about this some time ago.

Here's the episode: [1] It's really one of their better ones. Highly recommended.

[1] - http://www.radiolab.org/story/308403-blood/

Re: Blood from young animals can revitalise old ones

#126

Post by pmoriarty »

thinkfurther wrote: post #83
mrfusion wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Come on. Let's start with a positive comment. (I think this is one cause of our technological stagnation. Every article about a new technology has a comment like this at the top.)

What technological stagnation? > Through our scientific and technological genius we’ve made of this world a neighborhood. And now through our moral and ethical commitment we must make of it a brotherhood. We must all learn to live together as brothers—or we will all perish together as fools. -- Martin Luther King Every time someone makes a comment indicating a modicum of social progress, there's a response like yours…

"Ever noticed how the greats don't seem to obsess much about having to die at some point?"

This probably greatly depends on the person. For instance, John von Neumann, one of the brightest and greatest (though in many ways still very flawed) people I know of, was terrified of death.[1]

Many great people past and present have sought immortality, or at least ways to extend their lives. They did not want to "go gentle in to that good night".[2] This desire to prolong life is so nearly universal in humanity that it has become an archetype (the quest for the water of life). Some people, to be sure, do seek to transcend that desire, and perhaps actually manage to do so, but it happens so rarely that it is often considered evidence of saintliness.

[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_von_neumann#Death

[2] - https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/do-not-go-gentle-good-ni...

Re: Blood from young animals can revitalise old ones

#127

Post by smt88 »

pizza wrote: post #21
smt88 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No one is using ketamine to cure depression, but some doctors and some "body hacker" types are using it to treat depression with mixed success. For now, it seems to be most useful as a rapid-onset suicide prevention treatment.

For what it's worth, my experience is that almost all ketamine use I know of personally erased that person's depression for a week or so. I think it's less uncommon more and more.

I would strongly suggest that anyone reading this with depression disregard personal anecdotes like these. The placebo effect is powerful, and it's dangerous to self-medicate when suicide is a possible side effect or consequence.

Re: Blood from young animals can revitalise old ones

#128

Post by malloreon »

jessaustin wrote: post #82
dynofuz wrote: post #59

This was shown to be an inaccurate conclusion from the study. Since the animals were sewn together, more than just blood was shared. Organs, motility, behavior, etc. http://news.berkeley.edu/2016/11/22/young-blood-does-not-rev... a new study must be done where only blood is transmitted periodically without those other factors in the picture.

Haha, based on all the complaints above about selling blood, people are unlikely to accept sewing humans together.

without getting more than a touch political, the last 24 months have expanded my definition of what people will accept enough that I don't know if anyone can credibly speculate about it anymore.

Re: Blood from young animals can revitalise old ones

#129

Post by rubatuga »

raverbashing wrote: post #46
not_that_noob wrote: post #14

Perhaps UberEats can pivot to UberBlood? Fresh young blood of the right type on demand via app. Blood boys can be regular Uber drivers when blood demand is low. You're welcome Uber.

But for UberBlood it will be $3/h instead of $2/h?

Depends on surge pricing
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